Students and staff were challenged to engage in dialogue with one another at the conference entitled “Conversations on Race” held in the Student Center on Friday.
The conference began with a panel discussion moderated by Eastern Michigan University professor Heather Neff.
Panel member John Rakolta, chairman and CEO of Walbridge, spoke of his experiences having dinners at his home where they discussed race.
Rakolta also spoke about the time he spent working as a board member of New Detroit, an organization focused on improving race relations.
Rakolta was joined by EMU Provost Jack Kay, Shirley Stantco of New Detroit, EMU Regent James Stapleton and Eva Garza of SER Metro Detroit Jobs for progress. They all gave reasons why discussions on race are so important.
“Once a race is dehumanized, their victimization is made possible,” Kay said during the panel discussion.
“You really need to have something in common with the people that you sit down with before you engage in these conversations, not just your race,” Stancato said. “Have this conversation with people who don’t look like you.”
Thomas Sugrue, professor of history and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, delivered the keynote address.
Sugrue is the author of various books including, Not Even Past: Barack Obama and the Burden of Race and Sweet Land of Liberty: The forgotten struggle of Civil Rights in the North.
“We have to focus on the paradox of race in modern America, and the paradox of racial discrimination, segregation and difference,” he said.
Sugrue criticized those who avoid conversations on race by confessing “color blindness” and challenging them to take part in these difficult conversations.
There was one portion of the conference when everyone was asked to sit with people they didn’t know so they could actually partake in a conversation on race.
As a result, there were people of all ages and races sitting at tables with one another discussing the topic.
President Martin spoke briefly at the conference about the importance of creating a diverse and comfortable environment at EMU.
The conference was jumpstarted by a performance from CloseUP theatre troupe whose skits engaged the audience in confronting the stereotypes about race.
“This is a really good fit for us because we already do race and diversity skits in general, but this allowed us to share with a different type of audience than we normally perform for,” Gayle Lavictorie, director of CloseUP, said.
The skits CloseUP performed covered topics such as racial identity and how people judge one another. Deante Lovett preformed a monologue he wrote and had previously performed for the MLK Day events in January.
During the CloseUP performance, a slideshow was shown with each member holding a sign saying their opinion about race. One member’s sign read “Truth is I’m a racist.”
The audience commended the group for their honesty.
“This program has provided a safe environment for us to discuss race without feeling uncomfortable,” said EMU student Jeremy Carter.
This event was open to anyone who wanted to attend, including students and faculty from other universities.
During the conference, there was a diverse student panel that answered questions on their own perspectives on race. The panel included EMU students Antonio Cosme, Blake Odum, Jimmy King, and University of Michigan students Sabrina Ali and Bao En Toh.
Members of the audience were also allowed to participate in four break-out sessions. The sessions included Who are we? Southeast Michigan.
The presenter, Marshalle Montgomery of New Detroit, explored the changing demographics in southeast Michigan.
This session took a look at racial statistics throughout southeast Michigan based on past census data.
When asked her thoughts about the conference vice president of student affairs Bernice Lindke mentioned how much she enjoyed the event and how necessary forums like this are however she did offer the criticism that more students should have attended.
The conference was sponsored by Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Enrollment Management and New Detroit.
